My Experience with Tethered Technology

As the discussion about generative vs. tethered technology went on, I noticed that the example used was the iPhone vs. the Apple II.

This caught my eye because for the past two and a half years, I've been the proud owner of an iPhone. I was one of the first ones to get it back in the summer of 2007, and I haven't upgraded since. When it first came out, it was certainly a prominent example of "tethered" technology. It had several great features, such as full web browser, the ability to check stocks, YouTube, and of course the iPod itself. Still, there was the feature of being able to grow that was missing.

Since then, iPhone has started to push back some of the boundaries that pre-programmed phones come with. It started in 2008 when Apple allowed iPhone users to download songs from an iTunes application that came from a software update. Then Apple released the App store application, and all hell broke loose. Soon iPhone users (discounting myself) had several pages worth of apps, including the useful (Spanish-English dictionary) to the useless (online drinking games).

Looking back, I would say that although my iPhone did not initially have all the great generative stuff that comes with today's iphones, I don't think that having a tethered piece of technology was all that bad.

First of all, the comparison with Apple II is, I think, a bit unfair. As groundbreaking as iPhone was for cell phones, Apple II was earth shaking for computers. The technology in 1977 was not nearly as developed as it was 10 years later, so of course Apple II would have to be a generative type of technology; if it was tethered then computers would not be the same as they are today, since there would be no innovation.

Technology is so advanced today that there is nothing that Apple could put on its' iPhone that they can't do themselves. Sure, Apple could have made iPhone a piece of generative technology, and they would have subsequently lost millions of dollars in possible revenue. Also, consider this; iPhone 8g models were priced around $500 a pop, and I think if iPhone was generative right off the bat, Apple would have never been able to lower their prices, because they would have never gotten the revenue that these applications bring. After Apple entered into licensing agreements with companies like eBay, Facebook, etc. they were able to make even more money.

Of course, having tethered technology does come with some problems. iPhone, while not as tethered as its initial release in 2007, is still an example of the "Walled Garden", where Apple and AT&T is the gatekeeper. That means whenever I have a problem, I have to deal exclusively with these two companies, instead of being able to switch services. Still, I don't think tethered technology does not have to mean bad technology, and iPhone is living proof of that.